Benjamin Mendy: One of the football player’s purported rape accusers has stated that the police pressured her to assist in filing an accusation.
She testified in court that she had not thought the alleged attack had been a rape.
“I felt the word ‘rape’ meant like a stranger or in an alleyway,” the lady claimed.
“But he was my friend and it was his house.”
The witness, who was 22 at the time, is one of three women who accused Mendy of rape in July 2021 at a pool party at his home in Mottram St. Andrew, Cheshire.
She initially informed the police that she didn’t want to become involved when she was questioned.
The woman said: “I felt I was being dragged into the situation.”
Mendy, a star for Manchester City and France, has been accused of committing eight counts of rape but denied them all.
Accuser of Benjamin Mendy denies thinking of compensation
A jury has been informed that the woman who accused Premier League footballer Benjamin Mendy of rape denied having “an intention to sue for compensation” after allegedly looking up his “value” online.
The lady, who claimed the former French national team member and Manchester City left-back sexually assaulted her at his home in July 2021, reportedly researched the footballer’s net worth days before speaking to police informally and just over two weeks before speaking with the police.
The 28-year-old footballer and the woman are believed to have been alone in a movie theater at a party at his home, at The Spinney in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, at the time of the alleged rape.
Chester Crown Court heard that the woman is said to have made the research about the footballer’s net worth months after the alleged incident, following media coverage of other allegations by different women which had prompted police to contact her.
Eleanor Laws QC, representing Mendy, asked the woman:
“Why would you be searching for Mr Mendy’s worth before making a statement?”
The supposed woman replied: “On what date did I do that?”
Miss Laws said: “Why would you be interested in what he was worth on January 17?”
The woman answered: “I wasn’t particularly interested but he was headlines and stuff … obviously I’m going to Google him.”
Ms Laws QC continued: “Have you a mind to apply for compensation at some point?”
The woman responded: “No, and I haven’t done.”
Eight allegations of rape, one count of attempted rape, and one act of sexual assault against seven young women have all been denied by Mendy.
The football player’s friend and fixer Louis Saha Matturie, his co-defendant, was also accused of having the responsibility of locating young ladies for sex.
The 41-year-old, who is from Eccles in Salford, denied four counts of sexual assault and eight counts of rape involving eight young women.
All sexual encounters, according to both Benjamin Mendy and his friend Louis Saha Matturie, were voluntary.
At Chester Crown Court, the trial is still ongoing and might land Mendy and his co-defendant over 5 years prison sentence.
